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Interview: Sowing the seeds of survival

In the 1980s, Cary Fowler was seen as a dangerous radical, campaigning against agribusiness and its takeover of the world’s seed supply. Realising that the seed collections that would feed future generations were disappearing, Fowler helped negotiate a global treaty to protect them. Today he is working with governments, farmers and even corporations to conserve the world’s most precious seeds. Deep in the Arctic permafrost of Svalbard, Norway, the seeds will be safe from every conceivable threat. Fred Pearce talks to the mastermind behind the so-called “doomsday vault”, on which construction begins this month.